Comparative Literature in Nigeria: A Thematic Examination of Gogol’s The Government Inspector and Osofisan’s Who’s Afraid of Solarin?

Abstract

Comparative literature is the study of a people in prints beyond the author’s national boundary with a view to cross-pollinate them for local advantages. Its scope in Nigeria includes the source, the influence, and the affinity to the original text using the tool of adaptation. Its primary interest is in literary importation for socio-political, cultural dialogue and development. This paper discusses comparative literature, intertextuality, and modern drama in Nigeria by drawing a distinction between literary adaptation and translation. It analyses the thematic thrust of Femi “Osofisan’s Who’s Afraid of Solarin?” which paints the picture of leadership failure and corruption among the political elites and leaders in Nigeria during the first phase of political independence in the 90’s some of which are still prevailing in the Twenty-first century. It also examines the sociopolitical similarities such as grant, bribery, corruption, and political structural failure in Nigeria and Russia during the period depicted in Nicolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector”, which also captures the same phenomenon in Nineteenth century Tsar Russia. The paper recommends dramatisation of literary texts for sociopolitical re-orientation in Nigeria’s political institutions and its inclusion in the school curriculum at the primary and secondary levels.